DOCTOBERFEST! (DOCUMENTARY FILM FESTIVAL)

GLOUCESTER-BORN DOCUMENTARY FESTIVAL LANDS AGAIN20-film lineup to take place downtown over 8 days

From October 11-18, The Cape Ann Cinema & Stage at 21 Main Street in Gloucester will host its 9th Annual DoctoberFest Documentary Film Festival on its two screens. This year’s lineup features 20 films, filmmakers in person, two “live documentary” events, and a Closing Night rock show:

THE 20TH ANNUAL ANIMATION SHOW OF SHOWSWITH RON DIAMOND IN PERSON!

This “live documentary” presentation features master curator Ron Diamond explaining how and why he chose this amazing collection of 15 thought-provoking, poignant, and very funny animated shorts from around the world, some of which are surefire Oscar contenders.

SHOWTIMES TUES. OCT. 16 @ 7:30PM

BAD REPUTATION

Veteran music video director Kevin Kerslake’s latest feature is a journey through rocker Joan Jett’s life and career, from her early years as founder of The Runaways, to her first collaborations with Kenny Laguna, to her status as a rock icon.

CHET’S LAST CALL

This is the story of Chet’s Last Call – ground zero of the underground Boston music scene in the 1980s – and of its owner Richard (Chet) Rooney, a man who came full circle in his far-too-short life. Director Dan Vitale will present the film and host a Q&A after, and The Hopelessly Obscure and The Classic Ruins, two CLC bands featured in the film, will perform live after.

SHOWTIMES THURS. OCT. 18 @ 7:30PM

DEAD IN THE WATERFILMMAKER IN ATTENDANCE!

Rockport’s own David Wittkower tells the woeful tale of Gloucester’s disappearing fishing industry, and producer Angela Sanfilippo of the Gloucester Fishermen’s Wives Association presents the film and hosts a Q&A after.

SHOWTIMES SUN. OCT. 14 @ 1:30PM

THE DOCTOR FROM INDIA

This meditative and immersive portrait focuses on the life and work of Dr. Vasant Lad, the holistic health pioneer who first brought the ancient medical practice of Ayurveda from India to the west in the late 1970s.

SHOWTIMES SUN. OCT. 14 @ 6:30PM

FAHRENHEIT 11/9

Michael Moore’s latest is a provocative and comedic look at the times in which we live. It explores the two most important questions of the Trump Era: How the f**k did we get here, and how the f**k do we get out?

FREE SOLO

From award-winning documentary filmmaker E. Chai Vasarhelyi (“Meru”) and world-renowned photographer and mountaineer Jimmy Chin comes National Geographic Documentary Film’s stunning, intimate and unflinching portrait of the free soloist climber Alex Honnold, as he prepares to achieve his lifelong dream: climbing the face of the world’s most famous rock – the 3,000-foot El Capitan in Yosemite National Park – without a rope.

SHOWTIMES SAT. OCT. 13 @ 7:30PM

INSIDE THE ROOM/
BEST FRIENDS VOL. 2FILMMAKER IN ATTENDANCE!

Actor Greg Sestero, co-star of Tommy Wiseau’s 2003 cult smash “The Room” personally presents his short behind-the-scenes account of what many have branded “the worst film ever made.” Followed by BEST FRIENDS VOL. 2, Sestero’s reunion with the legendary Tommy Wiseau.

SHOWTIMES FRI. OCT. 12 @ 7:30PM

LOBSTER WAR:
THE FIGHT OVER THE WORLD’S
LARGEST FISHING GROUNDSFILMMAKER IN ATTENDANCE!

The United States and Canada have long shared the world’s longest peaceful border, but a centuries-old conflict over 277 square miles of disputed, increasingly lucrative waters has sown discord and threatens to shatter the tranquility between the neighbors. Join us for this Opening Night event as we welcome Boston Globe journalist and film director David Abel as he personally presents the film and hosts a Q&A after.

SHOWTIMES: THURS. OCT. 11 @ 6:30PM

LOVE, GILDA

In her own words, comedienne Gilda Radner reflects on her life and career. Weaving together her recently discovered audiotapes, interviews with friends like Lorne Michaels, Laraine Newman, Paul Shaffer and Martin Short, rare home movies and diaries read by modern-day comedians inspired by Gilda (Bill Hader, Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolph and Cecily Strong), “Love Gilda” opens up a unique window into the honest and whimsical world of a beloved performer whose greatest role was sharing her story.

NEGOTIATING WITH NATUREFILMMAKER IN ATTENDANCE!

Stefan van Norden’s compelling and deeply human film examines how the widening disconnect with nature is shaping our lives from many perspectives. In a high-tech world that is increasingly urban, gardens play a critical role as we navigate the transition into a sustainable future through stewardship of the land. This timely film explores how both rural and urban gardens hold an important place on our planet. Director van Norden will personally present the film and host a Q&A after.

SHOWTIMES SAT. OCT. 13 @ 4:30PM

REEL IN THE CLOSET

Revealed are the real lives of everyday LGBTQ people of the past through the best moments from hundreds of never-before-seen home movies dating back to the 1930s.

SHOWTIMES: SUN. OCT. 14 @ 4PM

RODENTS OF UNUSUAL SIZE

Hard-headed Louisiana fisherman Thomas Gonzales doesn’t know what will hit him next. After decades of hurricanes and oil spills, he faces a new threat – hordes of monstrous 20-pound swamp rats. Known as “nutria,” these invasive South American rodents breed faster than the roving squads of hunters can control them. And with their orange teeth and voracious appetites, they are eating up the coastal wetlands that protect Thomas and his town of Delacroix Island from hurricanes. But the people who have lived here for generations are not the type of folks who will give up without a fight. Thomas and a pack of lively bounty hunters are hellbent on saving Louisiana before it dissolves beneath their feet. It is man vs. rodent – may the best mammal win!

SHOWTIMES SAT. OCT. 13 @ 2PM

SCIENCE FAIR

Winner of the Sundance Festival Favorite Award, this exuberant, engaging film tells the inspiring story of nine high school students from around the globe as they navigate rivalries, setbacks, and hormones on their quest to compete at the prestigious International Science and Engineering Fair. Facing off against 1700 of the world’s best and brightest, only one of these brilliant teens can win.

SICILY: LAND OF LOVE & STRIFECOLUMBUS DAY EVENT!

Visit with us a magnificent place and people far removed from the Mafiosos on which popular culture overfocuses — a destination of spectacular beauty, epic human struggle, diversity of culture and philosophy, and invaluable historic sites as fundamental to western ideas and civilizations as Egypt, Greece, or Rome.

SHOWTIMES MON. OCT. 8 @ 6:30PM TUES. OCT. 16 @ 7:30PM

STUDIO 54

Studio 54 was the epicenter of 70s hedonism — a place that not only redefined the nightclub but also came to symbolize an entire era. Its co-owners, Ian Schrager and Steve Rubell, two friends from Brooklyn, seemed to come out of nowhere to suddenly preside over a new kind of New York society. Now, 39 years after the velvet rope was first slung across the club’s hallowed threshold, this feature documentary tells the real story behind the greatest club of all time.

SHOWTIMES FRI. OCT. 12 @ 10PM SAT. OCT. 13 @ 10PM

THREE IDENTICAL STRANGERS

Three strangers are reunited by astonishing coincidence after being born identical triplets, separated at birth, and adopted by three different families. Their jaw-dropping, feel-good story instantly becomes a global sensation complete with fame and celebrity, however, the fairy-tale reunion sets in motion a series of events that unearth an unimaginable secret –– a secret with radical repercussions for us all.

VINCENT PRICE:MASTER OF MENACE,
LOVER OF LIFEVICTORIA PRICE IN PERSON!

Join us for this “live documentary” as we welcome Victoria Price, daughter of horror legend Vincent Price, as she brings her presentation about her famous father to our stage and screen, and then hosts a screening of “House Of Wax” (1953). Shown with Rockport animator Ben Wickey’s short film “House of the Seven Gables.”

SHOWTIMES MON. OCT. 15 @ 6:30PM

WEED THE PEOPLENEW ENGLAND PREMIERE!

Cannabis has been off-limits to doctors and researchers in the US for the past 80 years, but recently scientists have discovered its anti-cancer properties. Armed with only these laboratory studies, desperate parents obtain cannabis oil from underground sources to save their children from childhood cancers. “Weed the People” follows these families through uncharted waters as they take their children’s survival into their own hands. Some of their miraculous outcomes beget the unsettling question at the heart of the film: If weed is truly saving lives, why doesn’t the government want people to access it?